Aerohive expands distie line-up for enterprise assault

Wireless LAN vendor claims market large enough to support three distributors following appointment of Cloud Distribution

Wireless LAN vendor Aerohive has enlisted a third UK distributor to help it crack the UK enterprise space.

Cloud Distribution will carry Aerohive's wares from tomorrow, working alongside incumbents Exclusive Networks and Computerlinks.

The vendor only appointed Computerlinks last February, but Andrew Rattigan, channel director for the international region at Aerohive, claimed a third ally is needed to deepen its penetration into retailers and other large enterprises.

"Cloud Distribution offers us a potentially quicker route into some of the major enterprise deals," he said, adding that Computerlinks' and Exclusive's network security backgrounds contrast with Cloud's focus on cloud-enabled technology.

Aerohive has amassed a base of about 130 active VARs since it burst into the UK in 2008, but Rattigan claimed the the market is big enough for it to broaden its channel further.

"We've just done a review of our channel and it's very clear the market will bear increased channel coverage, particularly in verticals such as retail and nebulas enterprise, and we are actively recruiting there," he said. "Having another distributor that knows how to play in that space is key."

Cloud Distribution helped build the UK market for wireless LAN vendor Meraki, which was acquired by Cisco last November and will at some point move onto Cisco's global price list.

Cloud director Adam Davison stressed the two technologies have different strengths, with Aerohive's 'controller-less' HiveManager management system able to support on-premise, private cloud or public cloud deployments.

"[Traditionally] we couldn't play in about 30-40 per cent of the wireless opportunities we were talking to because we couldn't do on-premise or private cloud," he said.

"Depending on the each end user's requirements, we can now help resellers choose the right solution for their requirements. What we are not doing as a business is bringing on products that compete with each other."

Despite rumours to the contrary, Rattigan said Aerohive has no plans to ditch either of its incumbents, stressing that the vendor already has three distributors in both Germany and France.

Barrie Desmond, director of global accounts and marketing at Exclusive Networks Group, said: "Two's company, three's a cloud."

He added: "Aerohive represents a great and growing opportunity for the channel and is still one of our fastest growing vendor partners. A year on from signing with Aerohive it looks like its been another false start for Computerlinks as we are still by far Aerohive's biggest proportion of business in the UK.

"Let's hope Cloud do a better job, although their challenge is holding onto the Meraki business because whatever they might say it is directly competitive. If they get it right it should be a win - win for everyone."